Olive Oil Fried Egg with Roast Asparagus and Parmesan

[archsee]

Maybe something a bit more refined?
...ran across this from a vintner's mailing.

http://www.cakebread.com/recipes/ind...Fried_Egg.html

Olive Oil Fried Egg with Roast Asparagus and Parmesan

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 bunch

large asparagus

2 T.

extra virgin olive oil

1/4 c.

Parmesan Reggiano cheese, grated
salt and pepper
----

4 large

eggs, room temperature

1/4 c.

extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
----
extra virgin olive oil
parmesan cheese, grated

4

proscuitto crisps* (optional)


Preheat oven to 400° F. Trim the woody end off of the asparagus spears. Arrange in a row on a sheet pan, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in the middle of the oven until asparagus are tender, about 10 minutes. Dust with the parmesan to lightly coat.
When asparagus is ready, heat a small non-stick skillet over high heat. Add olive oil and crack an egg into the pan. The egg white will puff and sputter as it hits the hot oil so be careful as you add the eggs to the pan. Remove from the heat and spoon the hot oil over the top to set the egg. Season with salt and pepper. Arrange a few asparagus spears on warm plate. Top with a fried egg. Feel free to drizzle with more olive oil and grated parmesan cheese. Garnish with the prosciutto crisps if using. Serve either as a first course or serve two eggs per person with a green salad and loaf of crusty bread as light spring meal.

*Proscuitto crisps are made by drying out thinly sliced prosciutto on a parchment lined sheet pan in a 225°F for 30-40 minutes until dry.

[firefleye]

I would not recommend cooking with extra virgin olive oil. High heat destroys the flavors of extra virgin that you paid extra for. Cook with regular olive oil, it's cheaper with no loss of nutritional value.

For really high heat cooking, I would use a cooking oil with a higher "smoking point" such as soybean oil (but there are lots of other options).

And DON'T cook in Teflon at high heat. The high temps release toxic fumes that are dangerous to inhale. It has the potential to kill small animals in a home and is really bad for pregnant women.

The recipe looks tasty, just adding my $.02.

[hmsiegel]

In this instance I think it may be ok cooking with the extra virgin. It's such a short amount of time that the oil is really on the heat that there should be very little flavor loss. And what you really want here is the flavor of the extra virgin to be absorbed by the egg as you poach it in oil. Butter would also be very tasty.

Same with the teflon. Most egg pans that you use for eggs are non-stick, though it is possible (though very difficult) to cook eggs in a normal stainless steel pan. The pan is actually on the heat for such a short period of time, that I doubt there will be much teflon fumes.

Just my thoughts.

Harlan

[firefleye]

[quote=archsee;706755] heat a small non-stick skillet over high heat. Add olive oil and crack an egg into the pan.
[quote]

it's not good for you or the people around you to cook in a teflon pan over high heat.

the recipe states that the egg will "puff and sputter" as it hits the hot oil. Oil that hot should be of the type that can handle higher temps.

if you're paying extra money for extra virgin olive oil, why put it into a pan over high heat and destroy its flavor and nutritional value? use a better quality cooking oil that can take the heat. If you want the flavor of good extra virgin olive oil, drizzle it over the dish at the end.